SANTA ANA (CNS) - Orange County officials reported 57 new cases of COVID-19 and one additional death today, for a total of 1,277 cases and 19 deaths.
The number of hospitalized patients dipped from 118 on Saturday to 107, with the number of patients in intensive care dropping from 63 to 52, Orange County Health Care Agency officials said.
The number of people tested for COVID-19 in the county stood at 13,528, with enough kits for 1,539 more specimens.
Of the county's total cases, 1% involve people under 18 years old; 8% are between 18-24; 17% are between 25-34; 15% are between 35-44; 39% are between 45-64, and 19% are 65 or older.
Men make up 53% of the county's cases, and 53% of its fatalities.
Anaheim has the most COVID-19 cases in the county with 146, followed by Santa Ana with 111 and Irvine with 97. Huntington Beach has 87, but Newport Beach is close behind with 85.
The number of Orange County Jail inmates testing positive for COVID-19 has risen to 13, sheriff's officials reported last week. A dozen of the inmates are men and one is a woman, and three have since recovered, said Carrie Braun, a spokeswoman for the Orange County Sheriff's Department.
The 10 still afflicted with COVID-19 are in medical isolation, and 11 more inmates are in medical isolation because they are showing symptoms of the virus but have not tested positive, Braun said.
No more inmates are being accepted in the men's and women's jails and they are not being transferred to other lockups, Braun said. Newly booked inmates are also being quarantined, she said.
Orange County's chief health officer on Thursday issued a recommendation “strongly encouraging” face coverings for workers at essential businesses which remain open during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Nichole Quick, who has the authority to mandate the action, stopped short of doing so. Her order was issued two days after the Orange County Board of Supervisors rejected Supervisor Andrew Do's motion to make face coverings mandatory for at least food industry workers.
Quick said she decided on a recommendation versus a mandate “based on what we're seeing numbers-wise. I'm hopeful we're seeing a flattening of the curve.”
The evidence that there has been a slowing of coronavirus cases in Orange County due to social distancing may be shown in the fact that the county is not seeing an exponential increase in cases on a daily basis, Quick said. The number of hospitalizations have also remained stable, she noted.
If COVID-19 cases take off again down the line, Quick said she would revisit a mandate.
A face covering should be worn over the nose and mouth, she said. Any sort of ties or straps should be used to secure it to the head. They can be factory-made, folded, sewn or improvised from common household items such as scarves, T-shirts, sweatshirts or towels, she said.
“Face coverings are an additional tool that may help protect staff and patrons from COVID-19, but they are not a substitute for proven protective measures like frequent hand washing, keeping your hands away from your face, practicing social distancing and staying home,” she said.
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